Janine&Chris'GeriatricGapYear: 30/9 Teddiesssssssssss

Sunday 30^th

And we did. We remembered the address and turned up at 10.30. It was a very Dodgy Brothers operation – entry only by invitation and their price for the helicopters was much higher than what we were offered last night. Their concept is that you pay a fee to access their special website that offers discounted cruise fares, flights, hotels etc. Woo hoo. We didn’t bother.

The walk was not wasted because it happened to be the same building as the Teddy Bear World. Which sparked J’s interest. It has varied displays of animatronic bears and a small museum section. Well worth the $11 admission and they give you a scavenger hunt sheet which you hand in at the end to get a present. I was given a small bear.

Later in the afternoon we went for a long walk up the East coast – round the volcano and beyond, looking for a hotel that has dolphins in the lagoon. We had the vaguest idea of where this might have been and probably didn’t go far enough but the walk was very pleasant. There were hundreds of very serious looking, mostly Japanese, cyclists approaching at the end of what looked like a very long ride. Also hundreds of surfers on long boards with paddles or more modern boards. They had lugged their boards down very high and steep cliffs to get to the narrow beach access points and the parking at the top was very limited. They must have been extremely keen. As we sat at the beach watching sunset a green sea turtle poked his head out of the waves.

Bright green gheko

Highest peak of Diamond Head crater

We had Subway for dinner and somehow managed to score a discount off the $9 price. Back at the hostel they were celebrating Alex’ birthday with hotdogs and as much Hawaiian punch as you could drink for $5. Pity we are dieting L We replenished our travelling stock of US currency from an ATM and headed home where we timed it just right for Lissa’s “birthday” party, conveniently held on the Monday public holiday in Australia. Steph will be in Sydney watching the Bathurst 500 on the 5^th, which is the real birthday. Lissa got a large plastic car which she loves so much she refused to come out from it for playing pass the parcel.

Teddy Bear World Hawaii